Is it not somewhat ironic to have a prime minister who travels to the other side of the world to endorse and defend another nation that he refers to as a “light of freedom and democracy” while heading a government that lies to its citizens and withholds information from them?

This government also serves the interests of its supporters while dismantling environmental protections that hamper the interests of those supporters, appoints corrupt officials and then disowns them when they’re caught, dismantles government services and benefits in the name of austerity while spending millions on self-promotion and promotion of supporters’ interests, dismantles democratic rights while allowing invasion of citizens’ privacy – and does it all while claiming to provide the most honest, transparent and accountable government his country has ever seen.

Why can’t his country be a “light of freedom and democracy” too?

Randy Gostlin, Oshawa

Spy agency collected data on travellers, report says, Jan. 31

Although our neighbours in the south will be happy to hear that Canada has hopped on to their bandwagon of intruding the privacy of their citizens, our government and fellow citizens should be embarrassed by this report. I always thought Canadians stood out because they respect privacy and confidentiality (it’s part of all volunteering, work and co-op training!). I am no longer confident about those who preach one approach, but practice another.